“I do not know everything that happened. All I know is that Lionel went to see you and your mother. He was sharing with me. I saw him lean down to both of you, touch you with his snout. And then Eilor’s men burst in, and took him away. I was never able to communicate with him after that.”
“Why didn’t you help him?” My voice came out cold. “Where were you in all this?”
“In a cage under the Dragon Castle. A cage I could not break free of. With the last of the dragons, who slept. Do you think I would not have helped my son if I could have? That I wanted to see all that happened, and know that I was losing yet another child, another member of my family, and know that I was powerless?” His voice rose.
The dragon was speaking within him. I could hear it, feel it in my bones. I looked over and I could tell that Margrite could feel it too.
“Then what?”
Fangorn recovered his composure somewhat. “I think because you and Aine have dragon blood, and you shared that with your mother, I was somewhat able to see through her. It was not clear, not like you and I, or your father, but Eilor came to her. He took Aine, telling her that he wanted Aine for something special.”
Fangorn spoke in the other language again. A puff of smoke escaped from his mouth.
“That is so freaky,” Margrite breathed.
“I am sorry. I am ashamed to share this with you even though I am not the creator of this. Eilor took Aine and raised her with his child. She was intended for me. Eilor felt if he crossed the dragon and fae blood once more that he would gain the child he needed.”
“Ew! He wanted you to hook up with your granddaughter?” Margrite asked.
“Yes. That was his plan. Thankfully, other things he had in motion set his plans awry. He lost the throne and disappeared. Most thought him dead. Aine was able to free me, and the other dragons. The new Dragon King and I made a pact, and for the first time in years, we were free. I did not think to search for you, because when Eilor took Aine, your mother escaped with you. I assumed she returned here, but I had no way to seek for her. Eilor didn’t focus on you as far as I know because he had Aine, and a viable female was his goal.”
“Disgusting,” I said.
“Very much so. What happened with your mother?”
“My mom? She died when I was two. I was put into foster care until Margrite and I were old enough to get the hell out of the system. I don’t remember my mom much. She left my dad’s coat for me.”
“A coat of red leather?” Fangorn’s eyes brightened.
I nodded.
“Do you have it still?”
I got up and went over to where I’d tossed the bag I’d carried this evening. The coat was underneath it and I pulled it up, giving it a little shake. The red of the coat was so satisfying to me every time I saw it.
“May I?” Fangorn stood, holding out a hand.
I walked to him and passed it over. He ran a hand over it, smiling. “Lionel crafted this. It is made from dragon hide. Eilor had some in one of his workrooms, probably left over from the wars, and Lionel stole it when he left. He didn’t want Eilor to have any of us.” Fangorn frowned.
“This was someone you knew? He thought it was best to make a coat from it?” Great. Now my coat was going to be all creepy.
“Perhaps. I no longer know. But when you wear this, it is as though you have the hide of a dragon. It protects you. Or anyone who wears it,” he flashed a brief smile at Margrite. “Wear this with pride. If the dragon who gave it had to die, they would be pleased it was another dragon who wore it. Even more pleased that Lionel stole it from Eilor, who has only ever defiled us. We always protect our own,” he added. I am glad your mother took it that she was able to give it to you.” He ran his hand over the back of the coat once more, and his eyes glittered.
Then he looked at me. “I miss him. My son. He was a good man, and a smart man. He would have been good for us now.”
“So you really didn’t know about me?”
“I could not feel you. I only sensed that you had shifted. How did it happen?”
“We tried to leave,” I said. “We were on our way out of here, out of the hell we’ve lived in, and I couldn’t leave. Why can’t I leave this city, Fangorn?”
“This is where your parents met and married. This was their home. Lionel cast a spell that wouldn’t allow you to leave, not Maria, and not you or Aine, unless you were with family. He knew what Eilor wanted, and he and your mother did what they could to protect you. When you were taken to the Dragon Realm, you’d not yet been born, so you could leave. Your mother brought you back. But since then, you’ve had no family.”
“What, what? He can’t leave?” Margrite was on her feet, and right in front of Fangorn.
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“Not without family. Only family can break the spell.”
“Then break it,” I said immediately.
“It’s not that simple. I am not the architect of the spell. I would need time to study it, to see how to break it. It’s easier if you just let me take you from the city itself.”
“That’s easy enough. You can walk me over the line, and then we can be on our way.”
“On your way? To where?”
“To where we planned to go,” I said, not wanting to give that information. “But first, you need to tell me how to manage this dragon.”
“It’s not that simple, Aodan.”
I held up a hand. “Yes, it is. I didn’t ask for this. Your world is not mine. My world is mine. I don’t want to be involved in all your history, and your wars, and all the shit you just told me. My family is Margrite. I’m glad to have met you, but I’m not happy that I’m a dragon. I need to know how to deal with it so I can live a normal life.”
Fangorn didn’t speak immediately. He studied me, and walked back to the chair, taking a seat. “I am not sure if there is such a thing for you. Oh, I will gladly escort you from this city. I understand your desire to leave. It doesn’t sound as though you have the happy memories that your parents did. But I do not think you can run from who you are, what you are,” he added.
“That’s not your call to make.” I crossed my arms. I wasn’t ready to sit down again. Standing allowed some of the anger to bleed off.
“You are correct. That doesn’t make me wrong,” he said. “You are what you are. You are a dragon. You are a shifter. It’s not something that happens often. None of my children with dragons were able to shift. Only my child with a fae. If I did not despise him, I would understand why Eilor seeks my children. They are unique. You and your sister both.”
My sister. I’d forgotten her. And I needed to consider that, but it was too much right now. I didn’t even know where to start with all the family history. Better to put it aside and deal with practical matters.
“How do I control the shifting?”
“How have you been controlling it so far?” He leaned back in the chair, arms crossed.
“I close my eyes and concentrate.”
Fangorn’s eyebrows went up. “That’s very good, Aodan. Aine has not yet shifted, although,” he stopped, waving a hand. “It is not important.”
“No, it is. Why hasn’t she shifted? Is it because this isn’t a good thing? Everything shitty that’s happened in my life has been because of this. My parents were hunted down, my father was killed, my mother nearly died, my sister was taken from her, and my mother and I had to run here and she didn’t live long.” I could feel the anger rising.
“I am sorry. I did not know Maria well, but Lionel told me much of her, and when she was still carrying you, she could participate in our communication.”
“Why?” The thought distracted me.
Fangorn shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think it was because her blood was shared with you and Aine. That’s my best guess. I was not able to be in her presence, and Eilor distorted everything that he could for his own gain.”
His green eyes darkened, and I could literally see the dragon snarl inside of him. It was the strangest thin
g, and at the same time, it make complete sense.
I didn’t know if Margrite could see it, but she could sense the change. It was like a cloud had blocked out the sun on a summer day. She edged a little close to me.
“He sounds horrible,” she said quietly.
Fangorn brought those eyes onto her. “He is. He spent hundreds of years killing women and children to further his own gains. He made sure that I could not look back on my life and have any peace. I see them, still, when I sleep—” he closed his eyes. Then they shot open. “I will kill him for that. Sadly, I thought he was dead. The Fae King—well, it doesn’t matter. I was right. I suggested that perhaps it was all a ruse, and it seems it was.” He sighed. “Aine was going with Drake to share the news.” Fangorn laughed suddenly. “I wager the Fae King will be rather put upon this evening.” He laughed harder.
“I’m missing the joke,” I said.
He didn’t answer as he was still chuckling to himself. When he calmed, he said, “You cannot understand. I am, as are you, tied to the Fae King, and the Goblin King, and the Dragon King. Not alliances I would have sought. But as Aine has wed the Dragon King, and he and the Goblin King are the sons of the Fae King, we are reluctant in-laws.” He smiled again. The smile reached his eyes.
It was disconcerting to see the range of emotion that he showed. His emotion was so strong, and so… committed. Like he threw his all into everything he said, or did, or felt.
“I have learned that time is not what you think, Aodan. It passes, and it drags. Those we love are often not here for as long as we’d like. You learn that you must enjoy life as it comes, waiting for no one.”
Stop it, I said in my head.
He smiled again, wider this time. “I told you, with us this close, there is no way to shield our thoughts from each other.”
“I can’t read yours.”
“Of course you can. You don’t realize it. Your awareness of how deeply I feel—that is based on the fact that we share a consciousness.”
Fangorn looked at Margrite. “What am I thinking?”
She started. I don’t think she was expecting him to turn his attention to her.
“How would I know?”
He looked at me. “What am I thinking?”
“You hate Eilor, you love Aine, and you like all these kings more than you expected,” I said without hesitation.
“You are correct. I do. As I fought the Fae King, intending to kill him, it is a rather unexpected outcome. I will say that perhaps the siring of children changes one. When he and I fought, he did not have his sons. And like me, Jharak has known tragedy.”
“Such as?”
“Again, that is more than is needed. Let us focus on your request. I will help you work on your shifting. Then I will walk you past the boundaries of the city if you wish to leave.”
“I do. We are done here.”
“We need to leave,” Margrite said. “That other pair of guys? They’re after Aodan. For something he stole.”
“I was not focused on them. Only Eilor.”
“Well, you should be,” I said. “The one guy, the one who wasn’t pissing himself in fear? That was Stefan, who is apparently—”
“Eilor’s brother lives? He was banished.”
“Yeah, and he’s not real thrilled about it. He wanted the box that I stole. Said it was his way out—”
“What sort of box?” Fangorn sat up. “What did he call it?”
“A portal,” Margrite said.
“You stole a portal casket?” His eyebrows went up to his hairline.
I shrugged. “I guess so. I have no idea what I stole. All I know is that’s when things went sideways… wait.”
“What?” Margrite asked.
I sat down as I thought about it. So much had happened since I’d stolen the box. “I think I saw Eilor that night.”
Margrite quietly sat next to me. She was on the other side of me, away from Fangorn, and she gave my hand a squeeze. We’d get through this. Like we got through everything.
“What do you mean?” Fangorn leaned forward.
“I haven’t had any problems like I’m having now until I stole that box. I had to go to Caleb’s warehouse, and when I was in there, a guy tried to come out of one of the light circles—”
“Portals,” Fangorn said.
“Okay, portals. Anyway, I’m in the rafters, and a portal shows up, and he kicks a woman and tries to step out, but then the light disappears. That’s when I noticed the smoke coming out of my nose, and my throat was on fire.”
“When did you shift?”
“After I got home.”
“Did you handle the casket? The box?” He added when I didn’t answer right away.
“Of course. It was in a backpack, and I had to make sure it was there. I left the backpack and took the box.”
“You had not experienced anything surrounding your dragon up until that point?”
“No. Never.”
“The portal, the closeness of something from the Fae Realm, someone attempts to portal near you—it allowed your fae and dragon side to waken,” Fangorn said, talking more to himself to than to me.
“So if I’d never taken the job, none of this would have happened?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice. “We could be gone by now.”
Fangorn shook his head. “No. The spell put on you by your parents would still be in effect. That might have triggered it also—did you attempt to leave before or after you shifted?”
“Before,” Margrite said. “We went past the sign for the city limits, and he fell off the bike, passed out. I got him home, and when he woke up, he was a dragon.”
Fangorn looked at us both and then burst out laughing. I could hear the man laughing, and behind it, the dragon was laughing too. It was a deeper awareness. He had a bone-deep rumble to his voice.
He leaned forward, laughing still. When he sat up, he had calmed down. “I do not mean to make light of your predicament, Aodan. However, you have the worst luck I’ve heard of in some time. You shift at the most inopportune moments. Are you always so unlucky?”
“No. I’m good at what I do. Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s skill.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a thief.”
He smiled, but at least he didn’t burst into laughter again. “That makes sense. Dragons are good at acquiring what we want. No one gets in our way.”
“No one ever has. Back to the dragon thing. What do I do with my clothes?”
“What?” He was surprised.
“My clothes. I can’t get naked every time I want to shift. It’s not done here, running around naked.”
“It’s not done in the Fae Realm, either,” Fangorn said dryly.
“So, wise one, what the hell do I do?” My frustration welled up. I couldn’t tell why I was getting all shitty, but I couldn’t stop it.
“See yourself as putting the dragon on over your clothes.”
“What?” I said.
“That sounds like a drug-induced suggestion,” Margrite said at the same time.
Fangorn didn’t reply right away. When we both stopped talking, he said, “The dragon is part of you, Aodan. So imagine that you’re just adding another layer. That’s all it is.”
“I don’t want to end up busting out of my clothes, and I really don’t want to lose my coat,” I looked over where I’d put the red coat on the other bed.
“No, I cannot blame you. The coat is a wonderful piece. Lionel was so smart,” a look of wistfulness crossed his face. “It would seem you have inherited his ability to thrive no matter what the conditions.”
“Oh, the skills conversation,” Margrite rolled her eyes, and got up. “I’ll be right back. Don’t OD on ego.”
She walked out of the room.
Fangorn watched her. “She is very loyal to you,” he said.
“It’s mutual. We’re loyal to each other.”
“You have been friends for some time?”
“Almost ten years,” I said.
“Friendship like that is priceless,” he said.
“Yep.”
“You need to try shifting now that we’ve discussed the clothing concerns.”
“Um…” I wasn’t feeling confident.
“What did Margrite mean by skills conversation?”
“I’m good at what I do. I always have been.”
“Isn’t it less than honorable to be a thief?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, sometimes. I steal for all kinds of reasons, not just my own gain,” I said, thinking about the shop owner’s daughter.
He laughed. “You have a conscience?”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“No, and if you operate in a world where thieving is accepted, you know this. Stop stalling, Aodan. Try to shift.”
I glared. He sounded like a parent there, and I was way beyond needing or wanting a parent. I stood and pushed the beds apart to give myself some space. I closed my eyes and envisioned putting on the dragon like a coat. I could feel the response that I normally felt, and then I felt a zing.
“That will be because I am here. We are more powerful together.”
“Oh yeah?” I got out.
“Yes. Had Eilor come upon us together like this, he would have been lucky to get away with his life.”
Why was he still talking? Couldn’t he see the things going on with me over here?
And then the tingling stopped. I opened my eyes, and I was my dragon.
There wasn’t a pile of shredded clothing next to me.
“Where are my clothes?” I asked in my deep voice.
Fangorn didn’t answer. He’d stood and come over closer to me.
“You look so like him,” he said in a broken voice. “Aine looks like him, but it’s different seeing my son in another male. And your dragon is like his. Like mine.”
He bowed his head slightly. Shit. Was he crying? I didn’t know what the accepted protocol was here. Fangorn was more formal than anyone I’d ever met in my life. He had an air of something special around him. Like royalty, or something. I found that I wasn’t as flip with him—and I hadn’t even realized I was doing it.
To think he might be crying was… weird.
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